Bar owner Darlene Hurley called police after patrons complained about smoke coming from the carpark

‘It could have been a whole lot worse. It landed about 100 feet from the building,’ Hurley said noting that there are propane tanks nearby.

‘It could have been really, really bad. Thank God everyone was OK.’

Maryland National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Charles Kohler confirmed on Friday that an A-10 Warthog jet from the 104th Fighter Squadron in the 175th Wing was returning from a training mission to Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River when the inert device was dropped.

He believes an electronic failure may have been to blame and said the device - which wasn’t explosive - was made to fly like a 500-pund bomb, but weighed much less.

‘This is an unfortunate incident and we're very lucky that no one was hurt. Safety is a top priority in all operations,’ Kohler said.

An A-10 Warthog jet was returning from a training mission to Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River, pictured, when the inert device was dropped